Releasing the Dragon: Myths and Legends, Book One (12 page)

"That shouldn't be a problem, I'll make the
call."

I rolled off the bed to retrieve my cell
phone from my pants and call room service. As it rang Serafina told
me she was going to clean up in the bathroom while we waited for
the food. Just as I finished reciting our order I heard a strangled
noise, like someone gasping and choking at the same time. Concerned
about Serafina, I went to the bathroom door and knocked. When I
asked if everything was alright in there she didn't respond. After
another moment and more knocking I opened the door to check on
her.

When I entered the bathroom what I saw
stopped me in my tracks. My mind blanked for a second before I
realized what I was looking at. Then I looked down at my arms just
to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Sometime during the night the
mating bond had marked us. Dragon scales branded our bodies; joined
our souls irrevocably.
Mine!
The word came from the
primitive part of my brain that belongs to the dragon. I wanted to
yell it from the rooftop for everyone to hear, but the more
civilized part of my brain knew what a huge mistake that would
be.

Serafina was standing in front of the mirror
with a lost, almost horrified expression on her face. When she
turned to face me I couldn't tell what she was thinking or feeling,
I was still reeling myself. She opened her mouth to speak but
nothing came out. She licked her lips and tried again, her voice
barely a whisper. "Is this what I think it is?" She turned back to
the mirror and stared at herself with wide eyes.

It was difficult to contain the flood of
emotions threatening to drown me. I wanted to lift her up in my
arms and spin around shouting for joy. Instead, I came up behind
her slowly trying not to startle her. "This is the mark of my
dragon." I traced the marks with my fingers as I spoke. "It's a
symbol of the sacred bond between mates. Right now it's still new,
that's why it looks like a pencil sketch. As the bond strengthens
it will fill in with color. The deeper the bond, the more vibrant
the colors will appear."

"How can this be real? How can a mark like
this appear on my body after one night of sex?"

"It's like Solomon said at the beginning of
his show," I explained. "There was a time when magic filled the air
and shapeshifters, along with many other creatures, roamed free
without hiding their true natures. In that time, we outnumbered the
humans who were little more than prey animals to most otherworld
species inhabiting this planet. When technology took over this
world, many of the supernatural races perished or retreated into
other worlds leaving the human race to multiply unhindered. Once
humans outnumbered us, they either tried to harm us or exploit us.
Some of the supernatural races learned to blend in and hide among
the humans. Many of those creatures are still alive today."

"Couldn't you have warned me?" she asked
stepping away from me with a nervous laugh.

She looked like she was ready to bolt any
second and I backed away giving her space. "I tried to tell you as
much as I could; I even had Solomon change his show to tell you our
story. But I honestly thought I would have more time. I didn't
really believe this could happen. There hasn't been a new mating
among my people in over four hundred years, not since the day I was
cursed."

"Wait. The day you were cursed?"

I lunged forward just in time to catch her as
she fainted in my arms. I carried her to the bed and covered her
with the blankets, then went back into the bathroom and stood
before the mirror. The mark on my body was like the beginnings of
the masterpiece I remembered my father having. The bond between my
parents had been deep and strong. You could see it in the intense
coloring of their marks. I hoped one day Serafina and I would know
that kind of love for one another, share that level of
commitment.

No matter the stage of the bond, the pattern
of the design was always the same. It looked as though a great
beast had taken its claws and torn my skin open to reveal dragon
scales underneath. The claw marks wrapped around both my arms
spiraling from my shoulders to my wrists with a larger set of claw
marks on my back running from my right shoulder to my left buttock.
On my back I could see the eye of a dragon peeking out between the
jagged edges of the claw marks.

A noise drew my attention and I walked back
into the bedroom to look in on Serafina. The room was brighter than
before with the light from the bathroom shining through the open
doorway. She was awake and trying to sit up on the bed. I went to
her, thankful when she allowed me to hold her. I sat on the edge of
the bed and pulled her onto my lap covering us both with the
blanket. My hands stroked over her hair attempting to comfort her
in any way I could.

"I don't think I've ever fainted before." She
spoke quietly and I got the sense she was trying to sort through
the chaos in her mind.

"It's a natural reaction when your brain is
overwhelmed and needs to take a break; a way for your mind to
protect itself from overload. It’s nothing to be ashamed of." I
kissed the top of her head wishing I could do more to help her
through this. This would have been so much easier if I had mated
with another supernatural being, but I wouldn't trade Serafina for
anything.

"At first, I was focused on these beautiful
marks." She held her arms out to admire them. "When you mentioned
the curse it all hit me. Everything last night was real, Solomon's
show and everything you told me afterwards..." She looked at me
with wonder in her eyes. "You really are the Dragon King aren't
you?"

"Yes." It was relief to admit the truth to
her.

"And you really can shift into a dragon?"

I couldn't hide the sadness in my voice.
"There was a time when I could release the dragon and feel the raw
power of the beast as we flew through the sky. But for a very long
time now the dragon has been trapped inside me unable to spread his
wings."

"I guess the dreams make a lot more sense
now." She stared off at nothing and seemed to be talking to
herself.

"What dreams?" I thought I knew what she
meant but wanted to be sure.

"I've dreamed about you every night since my
twenty-first birthday. In some of the dreams we flew through the
air feeling the wind rush over our bodies. I don't remember ever
seeing a dragon, but I knew somehow we flew without aid - no hang
gliders or airplanes - just us in the wind."

"Where were you for your twenty-first
birthday?" I inquired curiously.

"Some friends and I went to New Orleans to
celebrate." She turned to look in my eyes. "Why do you ask?"

"I believe it was your trip to New Orleans
that triggered the dreams. You see, there is a portal inside of
Lilith's that leads to another club I own in New Orleans." She
gasped and I brushed my fingers through her hair to help her relax
again before I continued. "I travel through that portal almost
every night to check on business there after I complete my walk
through the resort. Before the curse, it was very common for mates
to dream of each other. Had my dragon been awake, I would have
found you much sooner. He would have found you in your dreams no
matter how far away you were and led me right to you. But with the
curse smothering his magic he couldn't sense you until you were
physically close enough to me. Even then, he was only strong enough
to pull you into the dreams; he wasn't able to bring me along for
the ride. I'd never seen the slightest glimpse of you until that
night in Mystique, not even in my dreams."

She brushed her hand along my jaw as if she
understood how much it hurt for me to talk about this. "Is that why
there hasn't been a new mating bond for so long?"

"Yes, it's like I told you last night. Our
souls are made up of two halves, the human and the beast. The
mating bond is formed by the beast not the human. Our human halves
could walk right past our mates without recognizing them. The spell
that binds our beasts is very strong. It holds them in a state of
deep sleep making it impossible to access any of the senses or
instincts that come from that half of our souls. Without those
instincts we simply couldn't find or bond with our mates."

"Then how did your dragon bond with me?"

"I don't know." I shook my head. "He's been
growing stronger since you arrived at the resort but he's still
asleep. I still can't access him or his magic but somehow he can
reach out to you. He's been pulling me towards you since the
beginning. It started with unexplained agitation, then I found
myself in Mystique, a place I never go unless absolutely necessary.
Once I looked into your eyes I started to understand what was going
on. The night I found you in Lilith's I'd been searching for you
everywhere. I couldn't deny his need to find you. When I held you
in my arms I knew for sure that you are my mate and the sexual
desire became almost unbearable.

I tried so hard to wait until after you knew
the whole truth. I wanted you to see the real me so that you would
know exactly what you welcomed into your body. But Solomon's show
shook me down to my bones. It brought out emotions I buried long
ago and never wanted to feel again. I was barely holding onto my
control when it ended. When you reached up and touched my face I
smelled your desire and something snapped. I was powerless to stop
that storm from raging and after that first taste of ambrosia I
couldn't resist any longer."

Her cheeks were bright red but I tucked her
hair behind her ear and continued, "There was one moment last night
when I think the mark was triggered. I was spilling myself inside
you, holding you against my chest when the fire in my soul burned
so hot I thought I'd go up in flames. For a second I thought the
dragon had awakened. But when the moment passed, he was still sound
asleep."

"I remember that moment. I remember feeling
like I'd been branded. I guess that wasn't as far from the truth as
I would have thought." She crawled off my lap and situated herself
with her back against the headboard holding a pillow in her lap
hiding her body from my view.

Her rejection was understandable but painful.
I turned to face her linking my hands around my up-drawn knees.
"Serafina, I am truly sorry for the way this has happened and I
hope that someday you will be able to forgive me."

She had tears in her eyes when she said,
"It's just that being branded felt like such a good thing last
night in the heat of the moment. But now..." She looked at her arms
and shook her head. "This is so permanent. I'm trying to convince
myself that it's not as bad as it seems. I understand now, why I
wanted you so badly, why every cell in my body still wants you. But
that need is just physical. You're a nice enough guy and we get
along very well, but what if we find out later that we really have
nothing in common? Will we be able to walk away from each other? I
keep telling myself that it could be worse, if I hadn't been on
birth control..." Her head fell forward and I heard her
sniffling.

I wanted to reach out and pull her into my
arms but I knew that wasn't what she needed from me. I spoke in a
soft voice trying to explain the miracle of the mating bond. "You
were right when you said this is permanent, but the mark is only a
physical representation of the bond itself. It will become more
lifelike if we allow our relationship to grow. Or it will fade if
we decide not to nurture the emotional connection between us. Even
then, it will never quite disappear. Just like the actual bond will
not go away. It ties us together on a fundamental level and it can
never be broken. But that doesn't mean you can't walk away if
that's what you want to do. If you don't want any of this, if you
don't want me, you can walk away. I want you more than I've ever
wanted anything, but I can't make you stay. Nobody will force you
to do anything you don't want to do. I can't take the bond away,
but it doesn't really matter. It's always been there - you felt it
when you dreamed of me. It's only strengthening now because we are
physically in the same location and because we've been
intimate."

She looked up at me listening carefully,
struggling to keep her tears from falling.

"The mating bond is really like any other
relationship, just a lot more intense. It begins with physical
attraction and grows from there, the same as any other
relationship. The primary difference being, nature has already
chosen your perfect mate. You don't have to waste time looking for
'Mr. Right'. If you give us a chance, you'll see that we were made
for each other.

Many relationships, or even one night stands
end with regrets or with the people involved wondering what could
have been. In this case, we'd have the same feelings but on a much
higher level. I would save you that pain if I could, but there's no
way around it. If you choose to leave, we will both suffer
greatly.

No matter what you decide now, we will always
be drawn to each other physically. The intensity of that attraction
might fade especially with distance, but it will always be there.
Now that we've been intimate, you will always remember what it
feels like to be joined with your mate. That memory will overshadow
any physical relationship you attempt in the future making it feel
empty and unfulfilling."

Tears streamed down her face and I couldn't
stay away from her any longer. I moved in front of her and took her
hands in mine.

"I'm not telling you these things to make you
feel guilty or to play games with you. I'm telling you because I
want you to understand how deep this connection runs. If you came
from a supernatural race you would know how sacred a mating bond
is, and you would realize how lucky we are to have found each
other. There's no reason for either of us to suffer. Please, just
let me have a chance to love you the way I've always dreamed of
loving my mate."